Gauchos Shutout Northern Colorado to Complete a Perfect Weekend

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -
The UC Santa Barbara softball team defeated Northern Colorado, 7-0 on Sunday at Campus Diamond to complete the Softball By The Beach Invitational with a perfect 4-0 tournament record. The Gauchos scored seven runs in the fourth inning to take their second win of the weekend over the Bears.

With the win, the Gauchos are now 6-2 on the season and are 4-0 at home. Northern Colorado, which dropped a game earlier in the day to Nevada, 1-0 has fallen to 1-8 on the season. Long Beach State (3-6) defeated Nevada (3-7), 4-3 in other tournament action on Sunday.

Sophomore pitcher Tami Weston earned the win for UCSB as she pitched a complete game allowing only two hits and striking out nine of the 23 batters she faced in her first 2007 appearance. Senior first basemen Jessica Hejna was 1-for-2 with one run, a triple and two RBI and sophomore second basemen Christine Ramos went 2-for-3 at the plate with a stolen base and one run scored.

Second basemen Abby Turner and catcher Ashley Geist accounted for Northern Colorado's two hits on the game. Hurler Hillarie Van Otterloo took the loss after allowing three earned runs on three hits. Van Otterloo's record dropped to 1-3 on the young season.

Two more down in the batting order, Hejna tripled to right field driving in another pair of Gaucho runs. Hejna then scored after junior third basemen Tisha Duran ground out to shortstop to give UCSB the 7-0 lead. The Gauchos gave up only one hit in the remainder of the game and collected their fourth shutout win of the season.

In Sunday morning's opener between Nevada and Northern Colorado, the pitching dominated as the Wolfpack's Tiffany Hoeft-Bass and Jordan McPherson combined for a shutout. Hoeft-Bass (1-0), who picked up the win, allowed no runs on five hits and struck out one. McPherson who had the save, posted a game-leading seven strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched. Northern Colorado's Shea Carpenter (0-6) took the loss after allowing one unearned run on three hits.

The score was tied zero-all when, at the bottom of the fourth, Nevada's Tyler Schafer singled and then advanced on an error by the shortstop. Sam Bias grounded out to second base advancing Schaefer on the base path. Brittany Puzey grounded out to second base driving in Schaefer for the lone run of the game, Nevada picked up the win 1-0 after the next nine Northern Colorado batters went down in order.

Nevada kept up its momentum in the second match-up of the day with Long Beach State. Third in the order, Puzey doubled to left center bringing in Kym Silagyi for the first Wolfpack run at the top of the first inning. Michelle Beach then singled bringing in Puzey to get Nevada out to a 2-0 start.

Long Beach responded in the bottom of the same inning as Lacy Tyler drove in Brianna Goad with a single to left field. An error by the Wolfpack later in the order sent Tyler home, tying the score at 2-2.

Nevada scored again in the third inning when Silagyi brought in Schafer on a hit grounded out to the pitcher. The Wolfpack held the 3-2 advantage for three and a half innings, but the 49ers would not go down easily. A homerun by Jessica Beaver drove in two runs to grab Long Beach the 4-3 win.

Beaver's homerun was her only hit of the game and teammate Lacy Tyler went 1-for-3 with one run and an RBI. Pitcher Kelly Cross picked up her first win of the season after pitching a complete game with three runs (two earned) allowed on four hits and four strikeouts.

Puzey was 2-for-2 for Nevada with one run and two RBI. Hurler Katie Holverson (0-4) took the loss after allowing four runs- three earned- on five hits, walking four and striking out three.

The Gauchos will repeat as tournament hosts next weekend when Texas-San Antonio, Northern Illinois and Santa Clara come to Santa Barbara for the UCSB Mini Tournament. The tourney will run Friday, Feb. 23 through Sunday, Feb. 25 at Campus Diamond.